3 Days in Singapore

28th April 2019

After our very emotional goodbyes at Auckland Airport, we boarded the plane to Singapore. The first stop of our 8-month long trip.

As we were waiting to take off, we were overcome with tears again. It felt incredibly surreal to start this journey. We have always dreamed that we would travel for a long period of time and, that time is finally here. We got ourselves a glass of beer to celebrate and off we flew.

We decided to take the opportunity to have an extended layover in Singapore on our way to the UK in order to break up the painfully long journey. Thank goodness we did! The 8-hour flight to Singapore was more than enough for one day.

As we stepped out of the airport, we were greeted by a whopping 32 degrees with 70% humidity! That was a shock to the system! We ordered a Grab Taxi (Singapore’s Uber) and checked straight into our rooms to freshen up before meeting up with some great friends from NZ who had relocated to Singapore 6 weeks prior.

We made our way to Gabby & Callum’s new apartment which was only a 10-minute walk from our hotel, what was the likelihood of that?! After a few much needed cold beers, we caught the MRT (Singapore’s fantastic underground train system) and made our way to the Newton Food Centre, a bustling open-air food market, also known as hawker markets, where we ate a delicious variety of food from satay meat sticks, carrot cake (which is not the carrot cake like they have in NZ), prawns and even stingray!! Once our bellies were full, the travel & jetlag caught up to us so we made our way back to our hotel for some much-needed rest.

29th April 2019

Our first full day in Singapore began with a more traditional breakfast at “Toast Box”. On Callum’s recommendation, we got the kaya toast & eggs. This may sound simple but it is far from it! The bread is toasted and filled with butter and a sweet jam. You then take two partially boiled eggs, crack them into a bowl and add soya sauce and white pepper. On the side, you have a cup of Kopi, which is the traditional “coffee” of Singapore. The beans are roasted with sugar and margarine and served black with 2 TABLESPOONS of sugar!!. It is very dark in colour and, as you could imagine, very sweet!

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We said Goodbye to Callum who had to go to work and Gabby, Morgan and I headed off to Gardens by the Bay where the iconic Supertrees, Cloud Forest Dome and Flower Dome are located. This was probably the biggest thing on our to-do list in Singapore and it did not disappoint! We each paid SGD $28 which allowed us into the two domes and to walk around the grounds of the Gardens. You could very easily spend the best part of an entire day exploring – there is so much to see! Our favorite of the two domes were the Cloud Forest and I’m sure by the photos below you can see why. The dome felt like you were stepping into a mystical lost world, think the movie Avatar. You are greeted by a waterfall that towers at 35m tall and tropical vegetation that is meant to mimic that found up to 2,000 meters above sea level. As you follow the path around the Cloud Forest, you view the ‘Cloud Mountain’ from all different angles. It really is spectacular and a ‘must do’ for anyone visiting Singapore. After many hours on our feet, we headed to the local mall – The Shoppes Marina Bay Sands to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

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That evening the four of us caught the MRT to Little India for dinner. We ate at an awesome place called Swee Choo Tim Sum Restaurant and ordered loads of delicious tapas style foods, this was by far the cheapest night out we had in Singapore considering the mountains of food we ordered! We then took a walk through the colorful streets and ended up at an incredibly large market/mall called Mustafa. It was a multilevel shopping center and had everything you could ever need, from fresh fish (questionably fresh) to Gucci handbags (questionable quality) plus many more things. IT was definitely sensory overloaded but well worth getting lost in and having a laugh at some of the crazy things for sale.

30th April

On our last full day in Singapore, we met Gab’s (Callum was unfortunately at work) and opted to have brekkie at a Two Men Bagel House. The owners of the Two Men got the idea from his experience at NZ’s very own Best Ugly Bagels! He started this concept in Singapore and it has been a hit ever since. After breakfast, we caught the MRT to Haji lane which is known for its hipster shops and delicious unique cafes. A few streets over is a beautiful Mosque – Masjid Sultan. I couldn’t help but pass a thought again for those harmed in the recent tragedy in one of our Christchurch Mosques. The Masjid Sultan was such a tranquil place. After a few hours of walking in the heat, we felt exhausted and returned to the hotel to shower and rest up before heading out to Marina Bay Sands that evening.

Ahh Marina Bay Sands, wow. If you have ever seen photos of Singapore, no doubt you would have seen Marina Bay Sands. It is Singapore’s most iconic hotel with a rooftop infinity pool located on the 57th floor where you can soak up the 360-degree views of the city. We had the most beautiful cocktails at a bar called Spago (the cocktails were half price on Tuesdays!) and sat in awe of the view as the sun was setting. We watched the Gardens by the Bay light show from the bar which gave us a bird’s eye view of the Supertrees in action. It was definitely an awesome way to watch the show. A few cocktails later, we head to a place called Satay Street. You can smell the delicious satay it from a mile away! Satay street is a very popular food market held at a historic building in the middle of downtown Singapore. They have cornered off lanes on the road and they have been lined with tables. The hustle and bustle of this market can be overwhelming at first but once we got a spot and ordered some satay skewers, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Once again, our tummies were full of delicious food so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our early flight to London the next morning.

We love Singapore, it has something for everyone! We will most definitely be back to explore some more! Thank you to Gabby & Callum for showing us around your new city!